Subject: Re: [bug#76407] [GCD] A better name for the default branch

From: Simon Tournier <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2025 17:06:23 +0100

Hi Tomas,

On Sun, 02 Mar 2025 at 17:51, Tomas Volf <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Was there any study or statistics about this topic?
>
> The two black people I have asked consider the whole "master -> main"
> branch rename ridiculous, and me, descendant of people after who the
> Slavery institute is named (Slavs), also do not care.  So I am curious
> whether there are any hard data on this topic.

[...]

> Since this GCD is all about feelings, let me point out that some people
> do have negative feelings about the "main" as well.  It is a politically
> charged name, so I am not sure it satisfies the goal of "Guix
> contributors, as a whole, feel comfortable with".

Since this appears to me the premise for the rest, let be sure we have
this premise. :-)

1. Can you live with “main” as the branch name?
   Or cannot you live with it?

2. The same question for these people.

Let me share my opinion, FWIW.  When discussing such topics where I
don’t really feel personally concerned, I refrain to ask myself if it is
founded or not – slippery slope –, and instead, I try to focus on what
the change costs me and I ask to myself if I can or if cannot live with
this change.

Somehow, whatever if I consider the rename deeply ridiculous or highly
important or something in the middle, instead I answer: Ok, it costs me
nothing and I can live with this rename.  Then I scrutinize the details
using the same frame. :-)

Cheers,
simon